Wildlife & Wind Energy Webinar Series: Bats - Methodologies and technologies used to study impacts of wind turbines on bats

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Defenders of Wildlife hosted a free, nine-part webinar series, Wildlife & Wind Energy Webinar Series: Considerations for Monitoring and Managing Impacts, between August and November 2020. All webinars were recorded and are available on Tethys.

Webinar #4: Bats - Methodologies and technologies used to study impacts of wind turbines on bats

Since 2004, when relatively large numbers of bat fatalities were first reported from operational wind energy facilities in the eastern U.S., concern has risen regarding the 1) overall magnitude of fatalities of certain non-listed species, 2) fatalities of species whose populations have been decimated by white-nose syndrome, and 3) take of federally threatened and endangered species. Although the previous 16 years have provided information on the timing and conditions under which most fatalities occur, several questions remain as to why bats are interacting with wind turbines, and how to mitigate the impacts. This webinar discussed the state of the science on the impacts of wind energy development on bats and the approaches used to better understand bats/wind turbine interactions. Experts from USGS, TCU, Stantec, and BCI reviewed the methodologies and technologies used to monitor bat activity, behavior, and fatality at wind energy facilities.

Webinar Q&A available here.